Extremely slow broadband and at the end of my tether with Sky.

[gwiddecombe]

Hi,
I'm new to the forums so please be nice! I've have Sky broadband over a year now and it has worked fine up until the last couple of months. Previously my router would connect at 1.5 - 1.7mbps however recently something has gone wrong. My router quite often has trouble connecting and when it does I get extremely low connection speeds for 2mb broadband. Tonight I'm getting 233kbps download and 412kbps upload - the upload is always higher than download for some odd reason. I appreciate I live 7km from the exchange but I always used to get a reliable 1.5mb connection with no probs

I have rang sky on at least 6 occasions in the last month going through all the tier 1 troubleshooting then being passed to tier 2 and queueing for 1.5 hours! Numerous diagnostics have been performed and Sky have tried capping the line speed to no avail. I have had the router swapped for the newer black router, although that struggles to pick up any connection. My case was also forwarded to BT escalations who referred it straight back to sky. I was then told they would need to send an engineer out to look at my phone line and then told they wouldnt as my line was fine. Really dont know what to do now, am awaiting one of their 72 hour callbacks but not hopeful I will get it.

Just to try and help you out I have just one phone line entering the house. Phone socket doesnt have a test facility. Into phone socket is plugged microfilter with broadband on one side and phone in other (no splitter). Have tried changing microfilter and router phone cable as well to no avail. I have pasted the router statistics below in case there is anything anybody may be able to suggest that can help me out.

Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 11799 3995 0 635 1051 00:27:26
LAN 10M/100M 4301 12556 0 1110 763 00:29:22
WLAN 11M/54M 125 0 0 13 0 00:29:14

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 233 kbps 412 kbps
Line Attenuation 73.5 db 46.4 db
Noise Margin 9.1 db 12.5 db


Sorry its a bit long but thanks very much for taking the time and trouble to read this. If anyone can suggest anything I would be very grateful.

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

it's cause you're on adsl2+, probably due to DLM...back on gdmt you should see an improvement but until you can get to CST we won't know...

might be worth you paying BT to fit a new master with test socket to help with things as well...

[gwiddecombe]

hi, thanks for your reply.
I will certainly look into the option of getting a test socket fitted. Whats GDMT and CST and how do I get put back on to GDMT if it is better? I take it DLM refers to some sort of download managment sky have introduced? Is there anywhere that explains how this works? Is there any reason why the older white router can pick up a connection (albeit a very slow one) yet the newer black one they sent fails to connect altogether about 90% of time?

[Isitme]

Line Attenuation 73.5 db 46.4 db

I did not think the Sky router was capable of reading this high. If it is correct and not a bug in the router, then I think you are very near to being outside what would normally be considered the broadband limit. Unless there has been a change in the characteristics of the phone line, it does not appear that it could support 2MB, more like 6-700kbps. Do you have any record of your previous attenuation?

If you are on ADSL2+, as IANTE suggests, then it may be better to ask Sky to put you on G.DMT. To be honest I would be surprised if they had not already done this.

Unless you have hard wired extensions, fitting a new Master socket would make little difference.

[gwiddecombe]

Hi,
no I dont don't have any previous attenuation records I'm afraid. The online broadband checkerI did with bt a while back suggests my line should manage up to 2mbps Thanks for the GDMT suggestion. I will mention that to Sky when I speak to them next. Thanks

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

isitme, it's not a bug...the new FW will show over 63 now on adsl2+...same at CST's end...

CST (Customer Solutions Team) are the ones who can re-profile your line - you'll have to get through tier 1 again (unfortunately) but once at CST they should be able to get you back on gdmt (adsl1 as such) and hopefully better speed...

[Isitme]

The online broadband checkerI did with bt a while back suggests my line should manage up to 2mbps

In that case a catastrophic fault has arisen on your line, whether BT will admit it or not. The BT checker normally badly underestimates a lines capabilities, sometimes by as much as 100%.

Thanks IANTE

[gwiddecombe]

Thanks again, will ask to speak to CST tomorrow morning (think the queues will be too long tonight). Why would Sky move me to ADSL 2 if makes my connection worse though?

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

DLM (Dynamic Line Management) is the culprit...

the decision was made to take 300,000-odd lines and try to blanket fix them with line management - similar to that used by BT but no where near as good...

it set all lines to adsl2+ (even though long lines don't benefit from it) and then, in most cases, cap lines quite heavily to try and get it stable...

the problem was a lot of lines that were prefectly fine were DLM'd and it was a bit of a disaster...

CST should be reachable after 11PM but tbh, it's best to call in the middle of the night...ques have been rediculous the last month or so...

[gwiddecombe]

This was quite an interesting tool at
::. Kitz - ADSL line and exchange checker .::

Gave me the following info including distance from exchange

Check Results Date: 21:05 - 25 Aug 08
For Telephone No: 011797***
Postcode: BS***


Phone & Postcode search OK
BT Exchange Information
Exchange: Filton. BT Code: SSFLT
Location: Gloucester Road North, BS34 7PF.
ADSL enabled : September 30, 2000
dsl Max enabled: March 31, 2006
SDSL enabled : Not Enabled
21CN due : no info
Distance:- Direct: 3.85 km
(appx)* By Road: 5.63 km
BT Line Speed Estimation Other Broadband Technology & LLU Providers

adsl button Fixed ADSL: 512 kbps (0.5 Mb)
adsl button DSL Max : 1000 kbps (1 Mb)